Fix the workflow before you automate it
AI deployments are failing where companies automate broken processes. The returns are going to firms that fix the process and the systems first.
Return on AI: Weekly Digest – September 21, 2026
Twelve findings on governance, workforce, operations, finance and security, including new board-level AI committees and CFOs’ lack of cost data for agentic AI.
Our take
Automating a flawed process makes the flaws run faster. This week’s stories show deployments failing where companies skipped that step, and succeeding where AI was built into workflows that already worked, like manufacturers embedding it directly on the factory floor.
Clorox’s $500 million digitization plan makes the same point at the systems level: ERP modernization and AI have to advance together. Oversight is catching up, too, with S&P 500 boards adding AI committees, though many CFOs still lack the cost data to evaluate agentic AI budgets.
What to do about it
- Review each process for broken steps before automating it.
- Plan system modernization and AI adoption as one roadmap.
- Give AI security and operations their own budget lines so their costs are visible.